Little setback this afternoon. I decided to get a thermostat because I feel the truck's getting hot. Two different sizes gaskets showed for the truck, and only one thermostat so I bought it all. Long story short-the thermostat was wrong but I found a thermostat to fit but it's from a '67 352! WTH?? Anyway, went to put it back in and cracked the housing.....aaahhhhh!!! I cleaned up the crack, inside and out, and I've got JB weld drying on it now. Ordered some steel today and will pick it up tomorrow for the bed and sides. Going with 2x8 treated lumber sides, probably with an inch or so space between them. High enough to haul a decent load and still look over into the bed. Suppose to turn nice out this weekend so I'm hoping to be done with it and hauling a load.
Nature of old trucks with buying the right parts.... I had a 65 chevy 1/2T stepside body on a 72 3/4T shortened frame and an 84 corvette block under the hood
Yeah I just have to figure it out. I love it though cause it's so stinkin easy to work on. I pull the instrument cluster out and it took about 15 seconds LOL
Your instrument cluster may not be calibrated to the temp sender installed in the block - just something to think about before you go down the road of "overheating" If you have an IR thermometer(they are cheap) quick scan of the radiator/hoses etc when you think it's running hot could save you some headaches or ghost chasing
That's true. How do you remedy that? I actually had the IR gun out today and was watching the temp climb as I noticed the steady leak! I meter felt the water running through the hoses, which is one indication that it's not working.
fix the leak first - not that these were "pressurized" systems but the radiator overflow cap should hold pressure in the coolant system until relief setpoint. If there is a leak the coolant is seeing a reduced pressure allowing it boil off before the intended temperature setting If the system is pressuring rapidly or under load you see a spike in temp I'd consider renting a block test kit from a parts store - possible head gasket failure, it will tell you from the get go. As far as remedying the temp sender, you'll have to check around. Ford only had a few different senders, I'm not up on the specifics they used the same one in a whole bunch of blocks (332-428cc for that year) Not sure if it changed for your cab/cluster year
Well, the JB weld didn't help my cracked thermostat housing. It was too bad of a crack in a bad spot.....and of course no one has one around here. I've got a new one for the 360, but the opening on the block will allow the thermostat that fits that housing to fall through. It's always something....
Do you use Ebay? I order tons of parts through them…. PM me what you want and where to send it Ill take a look for it! JoshC
I was going to say JB weld will likely melt from the temps. www.rockauto.com has lots of parts. Shipping is kind of $$ though.
I do use eBay, too much sometimes Thanks Nate, never thought about that. My problem now I guess determining which motor I actually have so I can find the appropriate housing. Right now I have a tempory fix on it so I can at least move it around. Pressure washed everything to get the dirt/grinder dust and what ever else may be on there off. If all goes as planned, I'll paint sometime tomorrow or Saturday.
I have bought quite a few parts from rock auto ,you can always find a code for 5% off, not much but better than nothing. Just search RockAuto Coupon Codes
well you know, buy it wherever you can get it, I just wanted to let you know you can always find a code to get 5% off it rock. I broke one of those before when the thermostat slipped out of place and I torqued it down
Painting is a lot more work then it looks like. I was hoping to paint yesterday so today I could easily get the floor and sides done but a malfunctioning had other plans. Oh well work continues.
Bed painted, floor on. Took it up the road to a friends house and it's spitting antifreeze. I'm going to pull the thermostat and let it run with no restriction for now.
Bed is lookin awesome , you made good progress You still have the cracked thermostat housing on there right ?
